Heats School of Welding Technology

Philippines is now facing an increasing rate of unemployment everyday. It is a fact announced daily on TVs and printed media which is a result of Economic downturn worldwide. But despite the hardships, Filipinos’ character of patience and hardwork will always emerge because Pinoys are natural survivors. There maybe a decreasing demand on wirings, computers, electronic and other related industries but a number of identified skills are still in demand.

One of thriving opportunity for Filipinos abroad is the Welding Industry. The Demand for this specific skill is increasing recently. Surprisingly, this is not just a man’s job anymore as for the latest development, women are already starting to try this area.

The Philippine Government has encouraged Filipino entrepreneurs to open up welding training centers to cope up with the increasing demands for Filipino welders. In my area in particular, there are newly opened technical school offering welding related courses. Heats School of Welding Technology is one good example. Heats started to hold trainings in 2008 by renting private rooms. Most of the participants are now working abroad.

Engr. Pedro Jose Jr.

The good man behind this project is Engr. Pedro Jose Jr. He is a native of Kapanikian, Lapaz, Tarlac. He has been in the field of Welding, QA/QC and Inspection for the past 14 years in the Philippines, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Indonesia and Brunei.

His Noble Mission for the School is to produce World Class Pinoy Welders, Welding Inspectors & other skilled workers. To realize this mission, he turned his home into a Technical School to help not only his fellow Tarlaqueño but his fellow Pinoys from adjacent areas as well.

Heats School of Welding Technology is now in the process of TESDA Accreditation and according to TESDA personnel, their accreditation documents will be released this February 2009. HEATS’ building, classrooms, facilities (such as Welding booths, working table and grinding table), welding machines, tools and materials are now in place and ready.

Pictures below are the proof of Mr. Jose’s humble attempt to turn this project into reality.

Heats School of Weding Technology

Heats Lobby

Heats Classroom

Heats Lecture Room

Heats will offer the following Courses:

SMAW Plate, SMAW Pipe, GTAW Pipe and welding Inspector’s Course. They also plan to offer NDT Courses such as Utrasonic Testing, Penetrant Testing and Magnetic Particle Testing. Internal Quality Auditor’s course and ISO 9000 Awareness Seminars and other related skills are also in included in their line of courses that will be offered in the future.

They will be accepting enrollees in February and plan to start classes on March 2009. For inquiries and detailed information, you can visit their website at http://heatsschoolofweldingtechnology.wordpress.com/ or you can email them at pwtc_luzon_@yahoo.com . You can also reach them through mobile phone: +639054104465 or you can also personally visit their School at Romulo Highway, #4 Joanne Subd., Canrangian, Tarlac City. Staffs are available for inquiries during office hours.

Click the image location map for larger view

Heats Contact Info

For detailed description of Welding principles, Welding Trainings & courses, terminologies and job opportunities,  please visit Heats website by clicking here.

By Juliet B. Corpuz

Online Earnings

I have many inquiries here about online earnings. I reviewed my posts and I noticed that I don’t really have detailed information about making money online aside from the post for oDesk. As promised to Chelle and my other readers who were asking me bout this topic.

Here is the common question I got from my readers:

• Do you really earn from this affiliate and all this writing stuffs?
• How much range of income do u get from this?
• Is working online really true?
• Are they not scams?
• Can I see your proof of payment? You don’t have one in your blog…
• Can you recommend some reliable site?
• I am working at home, I hope you can share some link which can help me earn…

I assure you guys, earning online is real. I am earning decent money which keep me get going, in fact almost 50% of our income comes from my work online and 50% from my home based business. Of course these earnings doesn’t make me rich yet but it sustain our expenses, at least my phone bills, ISP, electric, water, mobile and other household bills and expenses are covered with my earnings. Although we still have to work hard because we have a big family. I have 4 kids, my eldest daughter is a junior high, 2 grade school, 1 niece in college and my youngest son. That makes us 7 members of the family including 2 dogs and 1 guinea pig.

Okay let me give you a detailed info about my earnings:

1. I am a verified oDesk provider

oDesk is a website both for hiring companies and job providers. As a company, you can hire freelancers or even companies who are providing this kind of service. It can be fixed job or hourly work. Payment is escrowed for hourly job, meaning the hiring company has to pay oDesk and after work completion, oDesk will pay the work provider. oDesk has tools to measure hourly work. A special program has to be installed in your PC. On the other hand, fixed job is different. The money is not escrowed and it depends on the hiring company and the work provider’s agreement how they will settle for the payment. It must me through oDesk or Paypal.

How to register:

• You can click here
• Fill up the necessary information. Make your profile 100% finished.
• Create a good resume
• Link your online Portfolio and other related online experience
• Take and pass oDesk readiness Test (90% passing). Just review the TOS & FAQ.
• Take English proficiency exam at oDesk and other website which offer this type of service. I took my English Proficiency exam here.
• Take other tests at oDesk, this will add to your profile and a plus also
• Link your blog. Companies are looking for real writers and your blog will be the most effective sample of your work.

After passing the exam, you will be notified that you’re already a verified oDesk provider. You are now ready to bid for jobs. Just click, find job tab and you will be presented with many job opportunities. Select a category at the left side bar. Choose jobs which suits your skills then click apply. The company usually asks you to send your CV and link to your portfolio.

Orie has some detailed suggestion in my comment box. Click here.

After your first project with oDesk, share your experience by posting it in your blog. Don’t forget to link that blog at oDesk by tagging it. You know why, they are looking for those posts and once you are selected, you will receive an oDesk Tshirt. I received mine last September and oDesk featured my blog on their September Newsletter.

2. I became a regular quiz writer of Devbook.com through oDesk.

I am writing quizzes for devbook using Redwarrior as my pen name. That is why I have a fun quiz page. These quizzes are posted at boredquiz.com. One of my quiz which is a naruto quiz is now an all-time top quiz taken by more than 150 thousand quiz takers. You can see the link here.

Devbook is paying me through oDesk and PayPal.

3. MyLot – I am also earning from this website. This is a social networking site which will pay you by posting and replying to discussions. If you spend long hours online, you can allocate sometime here and you will earn although don’t expect high earnings because it will be based on the quality content of your posts. Minimum pay out is $10 through PayPal. You will earn through referral and posting. Please click here to register under me.

 

4. Commission Junction – you can get advertisement offers through this site. They will pay you through check.

5. Yuwie.com – Just like adgitize, yuwie will also pay you through referrals, viewing and clicking ads

6. Helium – This will pay you everytime you create and post article on their site

7. PayPerPost – This is also a good site for paid blogging.

I also tried joining PTCs but the earnings is so slow and it eats my time so I won’t recommend it. Paid blogging and article writing is still the best way to earn online.

How to start:

• Create an online profile
• Create your portfolio. If you are a writer, post your samples. If you are a web designer, post the links to your finished works. If you’re a graphic designer, upload and post your sample designs, layout or Logos and it would be best if you post a link to your past projects.
• Create a blog where you can show your writing expertise.
• Post your ads. Remember every click on your ads will earn you a dollar.
• Post your referral links. Note that every person who click your referral link and sign up under you will be added to your earnings. AW Surveys.com pays $1.25 for every referral. Just imagine, if 100 people signed up under you, that would be $125. But take note, those must be active members.

So guys that’s my tips on how to start working online. Regarding the proof of payment, ok, this is a screenshot of my PayPal and oDesk transactions. Just click the pics to enlarge images.

My PayPal Transactions

My oDesk Transactions

MyLot Earnings

And another thing, you must sign up for a PayPal account, I have post here about that topic. Click here to read.

Remember also that you have to work on your traffic by joining social community sites like MyBlogLog, BlogCatalog, Facebook, Orkut, Friendster and MySpace. Check what will work for you. Add friends and visit and comment on their blogs and you will see that they will do the same. Add widgets and post your banners.

I hope this post will help you on how to start earning online. These earnings doesn’t make me rich yet but with strategies and the will to find other reliable earning opportunities, I know it will paid off. If you can recommend moneymaking sites, please post it. If you have questions, please feel free to post your comments.

Lastly, if you plan to register in these sites, please sign up under me by clicking the links. I will really appreciate it. Thank you very much! Good luck! 🙂

Initial Bank Deposit Requirement

One of my most viewed post here is the PayPal Verification Process for Philippine local banks and I really have a lot of inquiries coming from blogger friends and researchers from google and other search engines who usually lands in this page.

Lately, some are even asking me regarding bank deposit requirement so to add an additional info for this post, I made a quick research and get some screenshots to help you guys.

To those who have no VISA or MASTERCARD credit card, I usually recommend EON because it’s the easiest way to get verified.

Info on how to open an account click here

For further info pls visit UnionBank official website by clicking here

PNB – Philippine National Bank Initial Deposit requirement

Full view: click here

Steps on how to send remittance thru PNB click here

PNB Big Time Privileges

PNB for Global Filipino Family

BDO Initial Deposit Requirement

Full View click here

Official Website of Banco De Oro

ALLIED BANK CASH CARD

For further info on Allied Bannk’s Products and Services click here

I hope this post helps for your search for the lowest initial bank requirement. You can still Google it for comparisons. I have the name of banks here…

Til next post guys 🙂

The Entrepreneur

OCTOBER 23, 2008

I received an email from WAYN regarding Global Entrepreneurship Week. In response to this letter, I wrote an article about Entrepreneurship in my own views.

Money, Fame, Freedom and Power – 4 major aspirations of every breathing individual in this planet. Are you one of them? If we you will be honest and true to yourself, then the answer would simply be YES.

Who wouldn’t want money anyway? In fact money alone can give you freedom, fame and power. These needs and wants are traces and manifestations of entrepreneurial spirit in us. The drive to make it happen is a clear instinct of an Entrepreneur. The definition per se may vary but I am digging deeper into the essence of the word.

Class Struggle

The dream of every man to have money, fame, freedom and power in his possession gave birth to a society divided by class struggles. Prior to this, we were living in a classless society with equal opportunity to all resources around us. But man is a born warrior and so his whims and caprices brought him to pedestal, wars & chaos and the rest is history.

The era of classifying people by what he is through what is in his mind and in his pocket opened us to the world of governance and economy. Every people have been classified as worker, farmer, businessman, artist, politician and so on. The name is vast and broad but one thing is definite, in every man’s heart dwells the aspirations for Money, Fame, Freedom and Power. Politics has been a swift way to achieve these dream. Politicians have easy access to many businesses, news and justice.

The Birth of the Entrepreneurs

For a common man who has the same dream but has no chance to walk in the arena of governance and politics made his way to the business world. They started out as simple merchants in early times and now tagged a new name; “The Entrepreneur “

We are all entrepreneur. Each and everyone of us has been an entrepreneur in our own odd ways. The drive to have that money land in our hand and to have a decent living is entrepreneurial. When a common factory worker allocates a little amount of money and capitalizes it to sell something so he can extend his budget is doing an entrepreneurial stuff thus making him an entrepreneur.

Classifications of Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs can be classified as small time, big time, successful, risk taker or even a loser.

Of course this is how we handle our entrepreneurial skill. Business is a vast world of competition and only the mighty and the wise will reign. This arena has put many entrepreneurs in fame, freedom and power. Some even made it bigger than the government itself. They are the fulfilled and powerful entrepreneurs and we start to call them as Businessman to give distinction from the rest.

Do you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur?

Yes. As I said earlier, we are all entrepreneur. But we are differed by our drives and performance. Put out 100 dollar from your pocket and buy a pack of onion. Repack it into 5 packs and start selling it at $25 per pack, at the end of the day, you are $25 dollar richer than when you are starting. Duplicate this process everyday, add some lists, targets or buy a cart as your first asset and Bingo! You are now a certified entrepreneur. The key to be a successful entrepreneur is simple. Be consistent and innovative. These two powerful characters have lead many people to success.

Okay, now you know that you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur, so what’s your plan now?

Of course you don’t have to rush to the department of trade to register your business. What will you do? For a positive start, go to a high location, maybe a second floor of a building, a field or any place where you could see the ground and the buildings around you. Look down, smile, stand firm and tell yourself: “Yes I have the Potential!” No, I’m not kidding, this is developing self confidence. You have to arm yourself with confidence so you will have the drive and strength to go beyond.

When you think you are ready to start, define what’s on your mind.

What do you want to do?

What do you want to sell?

What do you want to share?

Of course business and entrepreneurship is not all product selling. Look at yourself.

What are your skills?

Your strengths?

Your talents?

You can offer these as services without monetary capitalization. Yes, we can always be entrepreneurs minus the financial capital. I am writing and earning decent money from thinking and writing and sharing these secrets to you. I may not be a powerful entrepreneur but I have the freedom to work and earn in my pajamas.

My objective in writing this article is to waken your entrepreneurial being which maybe drowning from a lot of frustrations and disappointments.

Com’on, you’re an entrepreneur man! Go find the right product and services for you and start earning. There simply no boundary for the word called: Success.

That’s all for now readers, I hope my writing has awaken your entrepreneurial spirit 🙂

For further info about Global Entrepreneurship Week click here or google it 🙂

Til my next post! Kita-kits! 🙂

Blogging, PageRank and PageViews

OCTOBER 22, 2008

This is my second month here at WordPress.

Before i moved my blog from blogspot, I have fear if I will gain readership here. I’ve stayed with yahoo and google services for many years and I never really engage myself from blogging. But in my short stay here, the response of my readers is amazing. I only plan to write at least one post per week but the active participation of my readers urge me to write more. I even find myself scooping events, taking pics and videos so I can cope up with friends and reader’s request. Private inquiries find its way to my inbox and most of all, writing jobs flourished and filled my idle time. When I finished installing google toolbar yesterday, I was even more surprised seeing a google rank of 1 considering that the birth of my blog has just arrived in a short period of time. I also have seen many sites linked to me. And for this, I want to give my sincere thanks and appreciation to my regular readers and friends who added me in their contact list and included me in their bloghopping schedules. These are the faces you often see in my widgets in my sidebar and some who requested for a link, I put their link in my side bar as well.

These developments taught me how to love my blog and find ways on how to improve my page views.

Years ago, I put my mind in learning many programs so I can start a homebase business. I learned all the programs needed to create company and student identification cards, business cards, tarpaulin, stickers and many printing related projects. I also learned installing biometric and school management system to some of my client who required me to setup and install those services.

I learned the basics of adobe dreamweaver and flash and started designing static webpages for my clients as early as 2002. At first, I set my mind in developing my skills in web development but the fact that I’m a mommy working homebase, I can’t deal with the huge demand of my service. I can’t cope up since I don’t have employees to work with me. It’s been my dream to put up and establish an IT company but the struggle for capitalization is always there. I can’t resort to financial sharks here since I know I’ll just end up drowning with debts.

But blogging find its ways to my blood. Another source of income have flowed in our hands and I am very thankful to God that in the midst of our crisis, He bestowed a fine blessings to us.

I always want to share these good things to you readers so join with me as I discover ways on how to improve our blogging activities. We’re all in this together and I want you to know some of the things I did to improve our blogging skill.

I created some KeyPoints for you:

1. Improve the look of your site. Make it relevant to your content. Since I am from the Philippines, I used a picture of our park, The Luisita Park in my header to conform with my title, “A Glimpse to the Pearl”. I’ve chosen this title because I want other people from other countries to have a glimpse  to a Filipino way of life, not only the bad side of politics but the good heart of its citizen as a whole and the abundance that  Mother Nature bestowed on us.

2. Stick to your theme. If your content is about making money, or computers, be sure that you can sustain it so reader wont get bored and will find your topics exciting and informative so reading your site will be worth of their time. Since I am not geared to a particular topic, I am trying to discuss diversified issues on governance and social issues, parenting, online earning, current events and IT related topics. I want this blog to be a magazine type not just confined in fashion and politics.

3. Try to share some useful informations. If you really want to monetize from your site, don’t make your blog just a place where you can shout your ravings and rantings. Remember, your readers have enough of their own. Of course we have the freedom to express it here but don’t do it everyday 🙂 Sharing what you learn and how you earn will be an interesting topic as it will help other newbie bloggers who are just starting their way.

4. Give a prompt response to inquiries. Give your readers a feel of your personal touch. They are happy when you personally response to their query. That will leave a mark on their mind, not just a bookmark on their toolbar.

5. Watch your statistic. Observe your trend, when is the time that your site is at its peak or when  is the time that you have few visitors. I usually look at the keyword which my readers used to find my page. If I don’t have the topic, I’ll try to create one like when I wrote a post about Mount Pinatubo. Since  one of my tag is Tarlac, searchers for Mt. Pinatubo Tarlac always lands in my page so i decided to write about it and it become one of my top post. (POST UPDATE AS OF AUGUST 14, 2012: NOT ONLY A TOP POST BUT WE ARE NOW RANKED AS ONE OF THE MOST TRUSTED TRIP ORGANIZER ARRANGING MOUNT PINATUBO CLIMB 😉 AND THIS IS JUST BECAUSE OF THAT POST)

6. Try to add some widgets to know your visitors. I joined MyBlogLog, a yahoo service which also track your visitors. It’s a cool service which gives you the opportunity to add contacts and join communities. I also joined Blogcatalog and Technorati which also offer the same service. When you avail their service, you will have the chance to monitor your visitors and readers and you will have the opportunity to communicate with them. Joining Blog directories will be a great help to increase your traffic.

7. Give some love. Visit their blogs too. Remember, it must be a mutual relationship not a one way mirror. My community member is my priority. I am doing a regular round of visit to their blogs, when I started doing this, I noticed that they are doing the same. My contact is my second priority, when I still have time, I will also visit the blogs of my contacts who are also active and visiting my blog, I am doing this at least 2 to 3 times a week.

8. Acknowledge your new visitor. When I see a new face in my widget, I usually visit their blog, say a thank you note and ask them if you could add them. That would open a way for another blogger friend.

9. Don’t flood yourself with so many ads and buttons especially pop ups. Sometimes this scare our visitors away. Try to limit those and just use the ones which is useful to you. I am creating a page intended for links so I can really have a place  where I can post the links to my accounts and communities. It’s still under construction but I noticed that my visitors are clicking on that page. I realized that readers are also interested with your links and what is your favorite site. So it’s really a good place for your affiliate market.

10. Make posting a daily habit. Of course it’s a constant change, readers want to read new post everyday. Let’s try to make at least 2 to 3 posts a week.

11. Advertise your skill. Yes! why would you just let other advertiser monetize from your site? Add your own advertisement too! I have new clients when I posted my ads and services. I included the link to the fun quizzes and Odesk. This pave way to other writing offers. Employers are hiring me directly thru my blog. oDesk even sent me an oDesk T-shirt and featured my blog in their September newsletter.

12. Watch your targets and turn around time. Beat the deadlines. Well, it’s one of the trade offs lol! 🙂 Earning your dollar is not easy. We really have to make an effort if we really want to earn more. But the fun is still there since I am doing it in my pajamas or I may say underwear haha! 🙂

That’s all for now guys, I hope you learn something here. Till next post. Paalam! hanggang sa Muli! 🙂

{paalam: goodbye} {hanggang sa muli: Til next post}

File Back-ups and Bookmarks

This is related to my previous post about Hackers and Virus attacks

Because I had encountered a problem with my PC, I am still in a start up stage. Meaning, installing programs, toolbars, utilities, categorizing my recovered files, backing up, creating restore point, etc… and everything I need to work comfortably.

I can’t remember when was the last time I formatted my PC because of a virus problem. My files had been intact for almost 10 years until that horrible experience. Yes, I upgraded my PC and even bought a new one but then, its not big deal since I have my files in my back up drive and all I need for installation; drivers, programs and utilities are all intact. I even have a complete list of links of important websites that I need in case I need support. Although, its really hard to start again because I have deadlines to cope up with, I am taking this time to share with you what I had learned from this experience.

Back up your Files

As I mentioned in my last post regarding hacker and virus attacks, backing up your files is very important. Yes, I also have a back-up drive for my files but what I learned now is that it’s not enough. Why? Backing up your file in USB drive or extra hard disk is not safe. Since it’s a rewritable storage device, it can be infected with a virus, worst, files can be deleted or modified.

Now I do recommend to back-up your file by burning them in a high quality CD and make at least 2 copies. One for safekeeping, meaning you can keep it in a safe cabinet in case you lost the duplicate that you’re using from time to time. The files that are ideals for CD burn are important videos especially those family gatherings and special events, Audio files, Pictures, Programs, Utilities, drivers and downloaded programs, games etc… For a designer like me, you also have to back up your designs, formats, forms, logos and other important things that you need in your daily activity as a designer. I

Protect your passwords

Important links, bookmarks and passwords are also important. You must have a back up copy of these because if you have many accounts, there is a tendency that you may forget those. But be sure to keep it in a very safe place or maybe encrypt it. What I did is that I created my own alphabet and numbers only known to me and my hub and I am using it when writing confidential files and passwords. You can do it by learning a Fontography program so you can upload your secret files and password without any fear that somebody might steal it. I included a search link for you for easy start.

Bookmarks are also important

I have a document file of very important links that I need and categorized it according to their use. Say, IT  Links, when I need to look for IT resources, Money online Links for earning purpose, Social Networking Links, Blog Links, Download Links for games, programs, patches, drivers and utilities etc.. you can also burn it in a CD and save it in yahoo bookmark, delicious, google bookmarks etc.. There are many websites offering a bookmarking service. Just google it to find what is suits you best or you may  click here for Top 30 Bookmarking sites.

File Sharing

Files can also be save in the internet in case you don’t have the necessary space. In fact you can also share your documents, files, photos and pictures. There are many Photo sharing sites for your pictures. Picasa, Flicker and Photo Bucket are just one of the many websites offering this service. WordPress is giving you 3gig photo space, one of the reason why I moved my blog here.

Of course, videos can be saved anywhere, and mine are placed in YouTube. I am also a google fanatic and I am using most of their services, Gmail, You Tube, Reader, Blogger, Orkut, etc..  I am using Google document for my word and spreadsheet files. It’s very important especially when you’re working online. Since I am writing articles and fun quizzes for some websites, the documents are shared between me and my collaborators like my employer, their managers and editors who will check the document before I submit it. Your word and spreadsheet documents can be uploaded to google document and you can share it to anybody without having to send it as attachment. If you have a gmail acount, you can use that for all google services. To see all google services, click here…

That’s all for now folks, I hope this discussion will help you somehow. Just ping me for your questions. See you in my next post 🙂

Health and Wealth Summit 2008

FREE FOR 737 PEOPLE

This was e-mailed to me by my contacts and I think its worth sharing.

>>>It’s not always that we bring in successful Filipinos abroad to speak on stage to share their success story in Manila. After a couple of meetings and exploratory talks, we finally convinced ourselves that “this is it”–this is one opportunity where they can teach us what they’ve learned over decades of struggles and achievements.

Health and Wealth Summit intends to gather businessmen, entrepreneurs, corporate executives, managers, supervisors, community and church leaders, and students in a four-hour seminar conducted by Dr. and Mrs. Cris Enriquez, an epitome of a Filipino Dream in America.

In four hours, we expect you to learn how to become wealthy and healthy in our very own country. We’d like to see you growing by listening and understanding some principles that our speakers will embark once they go on stage, live!

We simply want you to learn from them as they speak in-person. We want you to gain significant information on how good health and enduring wealth are built.

In his own words, Dr. Cris said, “Filipinos are rich. They don’t have to go abroad to make a abundant, quality life. They just have to adjust their level of thinking.”

Dr. Cris is recognized as the only medical doctor in the world practicing in four fields of medicine simultaneously. He’s the author of “The Healthy Life” published in the United States. His wife is as equally successful and active as he is in teaching and providing trainings in corporate America.

As we prepare this event, there have been a mix of emotions among us. We are excited and afraid at the same time. We’re excited because here comes another opportunity for us to help a person like you and afraid because you may deny this invitation because of time constraint among other excuses.

But we trust that you will enthusiastically join us this time. Remember that we’re staging this for FREE. And we’re doing all these because we wanted to provide you with another learning venue where you can bring in your family, fellow workers, and friends.

But we can only accommodate 737 people. So, we strongly advise you to confirm your attendance as soon as you receive this invitation by calling the following number:

Tel/ 729.9541; 482.6927 or Mobile/ 09276603920 and look for me (Aila).

If you want to sponsor this event, you can contact us.

You can also send an email to eventsengineer@gmail.com with Subject Line: Health and Wealth Summit 2008 and give us the following details of participants that you’re sending:

Name:
Email:
Mobile:
Company Name:
Designation:
Tel/Fax:

Alternatively, you can download a registration form by clicking this link and fax it to 729.9541.

Online Registration

Creating event inside a big event,Aila Comla-Tibayan
Event Engineer
Health and Wealth Summit 2008

PS. It is important that you will keep your commitment to this event as your seat is as valuable as one life deprived of an opportunity to learn when you confirm and fail to attend.

So my dear readers, if you are interested to attend in this event, make your reservations ASAP as seats are just limited. I can’t attend this because of my tight schedule but, I’m usually present in this gatherings. I was there when EBAY held its first gathering in 2006 at Shangri la Makati and it’s also free 🙂 I had many freebies from that event.

I also attended a 2 days advance IT training at UP Diliman sponsored by Japanese chambers of Commerce and UPITTC and it’s also FREE. Training kits and goodness, the food, we’re all full 🙂

These are just one of the free events and gatherings I attended, of course the fare is yours:) But it’s really worth it as it enhances your knowledge and you will also have the opportunity to meet new contacts.

So if your interested, just contact them at the contact info they provided above 🙂

Hacker, Viruses and other Threats

I had a serious problem with my computer this week. Somebody is trying to hack my account.

I am an IT literate, I am teaching and holding IT seminars for school and even private tutorials but these are all basics. I’ve been in IT world for almost a decade now but this week was the worst experience I ever had.

Whenever I had virus threats, spyware, adware or worms and my anti-virus failed to resolve these issues, I simply format my PC and setup my hard disk drive and its done! I can start working again. But last Tuesday, Oct. 14, when I opened my PC, I noticed that something is wrong during the start up process as it’s very slow than usual. I thought it was just a registry issue, so I run my registry cleaner to fix it but it failed.

Let me give you an idea about your PC and what PC registry is…

Your PC has many parts, input & output devices (monitor, keyboard & mouse), processor, motherboard, plug-in devices, storage devices and accessories. These are hardware.

Hardware – Physical Parts of the Computer

Software are the programs which control and manages your computers operation and it has 2 types;

1. The Operating System (OS) which is either XP, Vista or linux. This OS controls and manages the operation of your hardware and application programs.

2. The Application Programs. These are office programs such as MS word, excel, powerpoint, drawing etc… in which you create and perform your tasks.

These programs are stored in a storage device.

Storage devices comes in different forms, the hard disk drive, CD-rom and USB drives. So when you install these programs in your PC, it is saved in the hard disk drive (HDD).

Once these data is saved, we call it FILES. There are 2 file types; the system files and the user files.

User files are those files which you created yourself. These maybe document files for your blog posts, research, letters or maybe drawing files you created in adobe photoshop, videos, and other files you created and saved in the My Document folder which you arranged according to different category. You can modify it or delete it anytime you wish. Deleted user files are thrown in the recycle bin and can still be restored as long as you never click ’empty recycle bin’

On the other hand, Systems files are those files which has something to do with your PC operation. you can find it in drive C, at program files and windows folder. These can’t be modified as this will affect your PC’s performance. Some files and folders are usually hidden by the system itself to prevent newbie users from modifying it.

Programs cannot be modified manually. It has its own updates and it will run and download updates depending on your preferences. When you want to get rid of  a particular program because you want to acquire the space its is occupying, you never delete it manually but remove it using your control panel. Just go to you control panel folder and click add/remove program icon. It will show you all the programs installed in your PC. Just click it and it will be removed.

The programs that we installed in our computers has setting configurations which are stored in your PC Registry.

Programs has registry keys which controls the operation of your PC. Everytime you change your profile setting or change PC configurations, it is always saved at the PC registry. Have you experience installing a program but failed? or uninstall a program but unsuccessful as well? these unsuccessful installations left marks and traces in your registry file. Even when you removed virus and adwares, it also left its marks and trace in your registry. Over the years, especially when you failed or never defragment your PC and you continue to install and uninstall programs, the invalid registry keys and outdated files in your registry increases and these will flood the system causing it to slow down.

But don’t worry, these issues are usually resolved by using a registry cleaner. You can avail of a free online registry scan at reliable websites like Microsoft or you can google and read reviews of the best online registry scanner and cleaning software.

Knowing this, I fixed my PC using registry cleaner but this doesn’t resolve the problem…

In fact, as the day is progressing, my PC is becoming more and more sluggish and windows are popping and programs are automatically opening and closing. Dialog boxes are opening too and flooding my desktop.

I am running after my deadline so it really bothers me and I really need to fix it immediately or else, I’ll lost my clients and employers! Since my anti virus and registry cleaner does not fix the issue, I tried online full scan in at least 3 reliable sites, Microsoft, Kaspersky and Panda. But these process failed as well.

Now my last option is to format my hard disk. I checked and save all my files in my back up drive and detached it. Back up drives are also called slave disk. When you check your Bios setup, it will show your hdd as master and the rest as slave or secondary slaves.  Back up drives that are attached to your pc can be seen  once you click ‘my computer’ icon. It will appear as another drive; drive C for your existing drive (another drive if your hdd has a partition), drive D, drive E, drive F for your cdrom and so on…

What I did was I removed all the attached slave disk and started formatting and setup. After setup, I expect or anyone would expect that the virus is gone, well its the normal outcome at least. But in my case it’s not. I just used my PC for 2 hours but when I connect to the internet, the same thing  happen.  My start button was opening automatically and a lot of dialog box is appearing. I don’t know what’s the cause so I downloaded YM to ask for friends’ advice.

These friends are telling me the same assessment. Virus cannot stand formatting. No adware and spyware will survive formatting. To be sure, I reformat again and I did it 4 times! But to no avail, I have the same result. The thought of an external threat flashed my mind. My friends agreed with my assessment. ‘Maybe somebody is trying to hack you’ they told me. ‘It maybe possible because you are working and earning online, maybe that hacker want to steal your password to have access on your accounts’

Those thoughts made me check my accounts; paypal, odesk, emails etc… But it’s still safe for now at least. I went to my relative’s PC and changed all my passwords using their computers. If somebody is hacking me, using another IP address to change my passwords will be the best thing to do so he can’t track any changes. I spent 2 days researching and reading reviews for reliable firewall programs and latest virus threats. I purchased a new reliable anti virus for security measure and firewalled my PC. .

But the next horrifying event shocked me…

When I attached my back up drive to check my files, I almost fell in my chair… My files were all gone! My back up drive is empty. Free! My 50 gig files were nowhere to be found! I thought I’d die at that moment. The articles which are due the following day, My clients designs, web designs, ID pictures, ID designs…. 10 years files… All of the pics, family gatherings, videos of different events, my serials, installers…My daughter was so worried as she has so many files and researched reports in that drive. Those are all gone in a blink! I can’t believe it. Those were very important. It’s where I am earning a living.

But I don’t believe I lost those files in an instant. Formatting even takes hours to erase all its contents. How can a 50 gig files be erased in a blink?

I spent the whole day researching for file recovery. And with the help from reliable friends, especially to Mike, thank you Sparkman, you really rock! I was able to recover 80% of my files. Yes, 80%. Well that’s fine for me, documents, designs, images and videos are my priority. Recovery programs has options only for document, images, zip files and videos. so I was not able to recover my installers, but  l was able to recover my serials so at least, I can still download it online.

Whew! That was a great lesson!

I felt 5 years has been added to my age. I was so tired but relieved. And to you, whoever you are who’s trying to hack me, sorry to disappoint you but YOU FAILED..

Yes, you may have succeeded to interrupt my activity but I am thankful, you know why, this made me more wiser and cautious. You taught me to learn more. Thanks, I learned a lot this week.

The lesson here is that we must be very cautious and protect our files. I started to burn my files in high quality CDs in duplicates and keep it in different categories. This way, I wont worry if the same thing happened again.

And the great thing is:

I learned that when you empty your recycle bin, or if you accidentally delete files in your flash or USB, drives, you can still recover it.

Now, I recovered the MP3s and videos from my old USB drive which was accidentally deleted by  a client when he borrowed my USB drive 🙂 Thank you Hacker. This new knowledge is fun and worth the mess you caused me 🙂

So my dear readers, protect your files before the same thing happen to you. This is a very long post indeed but I had to write it down so I can warn you and at least give you an idea of what to do in case the same thing happen to you. Just ping me if you need some particular name of the programs I used as I dont want to display it here coz it would look like an advertisement.

Thanks for reading my novel 🙂

Online Work Updates

OMG! I am more than a week late. It’s October 9 and I never make a single post yet for October.

Sorry guys, this month seems like a marathon for me. I am running after my deadlines. Online writing jobs are coming in and I have to cope up. The inquiry of Colorado based publishing in my author page was added in my daily schedule. Hi Brad! You’re in my first post for October 🙂 I’m glad to be a part of your team and of course I am ready for head bashing lol! I guess I have to start looking for a new helmet 🙂

…and Before I forget….

I would like to thank oDesk team for featuring my blog in their September Newsletter. I am excited for the oDesk T-shirt that you sent me.

To give you an idea about the shirt, I included it in my post. It’s not in my possession yet as oDesk team just sent it the other day. I guess I need to wait for a couple of week before I receive it.

Once again Thank you oDesk Team! You guys really rock! and I am proud to be a part of your growing family 🙂 Two Thumbs Up!!

San Francisco Day Care Center

I just finished creating the blogsite for San Francisco Day Care Center. This is one of our 3 day care center projects. They have almost 70 day care students. I designed and printed their student ID cards and as you can see the number of students does not give us enough profit but we are giving them free web presence.

Giving out free IT trainings and web presence are my bid for social responsibility. I always believe that education plays a major role in nation building. For this reason, I am sharing my skill to achieve these goals. I already conducted several free IT trainings in the past and this is my contribution to bridge digital divide in my own way. I am encouraging organizations and public schools in my province to avail the advantages of having web presence which shall benefit the students, the parents & the school. It will enhance communication because the school will have a good venue to post current activities and upcoming programs.

Excerpt from San Francisco blogsite:

Social Workers are also considered as “Living Heroes” because of their unceasing effort to help and serve the community. Running and teaching a public day care center requires patience and passion. Mrs. Rebecca Manalang is one good example, she is not just teaching the kids but she’s extending motherly love as well.

The concept of daycare program is to help the working parents and prepare the children for formal education. Attending daycare center will enhance good behavior as the children learns to play within the spirit of cooperation and teamwork. Although, children are not graded academically, they still have writing and reading sessions. They are taught how to draw and create projects which improve their learning skills…. More click here…

Job Search in Tarlac

Job searches for Tarlac always goes to my landing pages. I’m sorry guys that you can’t find Job Posting in my blog because I don’t have contact with the establishments here. I’m just a typical mommy working online and homebase. Most of the events in Tarlac that I am featuring in my blog are the activities that my kids attended. They are the one who gather data and photos for those events.

 

Please check our local website at http://www.tarlaccity.gov.ph/local_employment.htm. They are also posting current events and job vacancies. But if you have writing skills and you want to work online like me, I can give you tips on how to start. Just leave a message in my comment box and we can PM.

Thanks for the regular readers of my blog, you’re always in my widget, gorgeous faces 🙂 I really appreciate it.

 

CorpuzPowerPrint Latest Projects

Aside from Martinet School and Montessori de Xevera, We also have ongoing projects with the following schools and establishments:

RECON Security Agency

I just finished the design for their ID and pictorial is ongoing. If we reach the target of at least 300 security guards, we will provide them a free web design for their local website in Tarlac Branch.

Part of our promotion, we are giving free web designs and IT training for schools and companies that will avail any of our services for at least 300 students/employees and up. We also have free computer and printer for 3 years contract. Please click this link for further details: CorpuzPowerPrint

We also have an ongoing pictorial for students’ ID at Maligaya Daycare Center, Paraiso Daycare Center and San Francisco Daycare Centers. These are Public daycare centers funded by Government under the administration of DSWD- Department of Social Workers and Development, Tarlac. I will also create a free website or blogsite for these 3 daycare centers so they can post photos of their school activities and programs.

These are my designs of their student IDs

We also closed the deal for Big 5 Fitness Gym, Mc Arthur Highway, Maligaya, Tarlac City. I designed their business card and membership card and we still have an ongoing negotiation for their ID and free website design.

And lastly, we just finished printing the stickers for TBC – Tarlac-Bamban-Capas Jeepney Operators and Drivers’ Association. They are considering to hire our service for their ID to avail of free IT Training and website design.

Giving free IT training and Free Website design are part of my bid for social responsibility. I am also giving free IT trainings for the kids in our neighborhood every summer vacation and my eldest daughter Jessica is helping me out with this project. We are also planning to organize a youth IT Club in our community. I don’t have enough money to give out but we have skills to share and in our little ways, I know we are doing our share in nation building and I’m glad that my kids are joining me in realizing these goals.

Working & Earning Online

I received an inquiry about odesk.com the other day. I was asked how I managed to get projects at oDesk. It may sound doubtful but I know why. I joined many websites for freelancers but I may say that oDesk is different. I need to pass the oDesk readiness test and complete my profile or make it 100% before I became a verified provider. I also took other qualifying tests like English Proficiency and XP skills. Taking and passing test at oDesk will increase your chance to be hired.

Working with oDesk is secured as employers send payment thru them. You can also apply for oDesk card to receive your payment. In my case, I demand payment thru PayPal and for those who are starting, I recommend that you open a PayPal account and get verified.

It’s not easy to be hired though; you still need to go on a series of biddings to get a project. You really need a good track record & good writing skill to qualify and this blog serves as my portfolio. My chance to get good projects increased since I started blogging. I also meet contacts who refer me to employers scouting for freelancers. And the last but not the least, I found reliable financial institution where I can run for fast cash payday loans during emergencies.

Financial Matter

There’s a scarcity of job in the first world. Not because they have economic problem but because companies cuts costs and opt to outsourcing and offshoring. If you do a company hopping you’ll find out that within huge buildings and establishments are just a few numbers of employees. This is not good for the workers and job seekers but for us who lives in the third world country, we find it helpful since we are given an opportunity to compete and prove our worth.

I am one of the many Filipina freelancers working online. I do most of the work during night time when my kids are already in bed. Most of the time I am writing till dawn to meet deadlines. I joined many websites for freelancers and started bidding jobs at a very cheap price. After sometime, I found employers who pays reasonable price. One of the companies who hired me is devbook.com. I am writing fun quizzes and I really enjoy the job.

But working online cannot be a main source of income. It is only an extra income where we can have an extra budget for family expenses. I still run a family homebase business wherein we can have fix earnings on daily basis. Running a family of four kids is not easy and there are times that we are really on a tight budget and needs extra cash for unexpected expenses. When we are in the midst of crisis wherein we need additional fund, it’s good to know that there are financial institutions that we can run to and I will mention at least 2 in my lists, fastcashonline and pacificadvance. They are reliable if you are in need of cash advance during emergencies.

My Naruto Quiz: Included in Top 10

Today is Maintenance day for me. This is my schedule to log to my accounts, blogs, client’s websites and other club memberships. I am doing this once a week, but I’m checking my mails on daily basis.

Currently I am writing entertaining quizzes for devbook.com which is posted at boredquiz.com. I posted some of the links of my quizzes in here and you can find it in my fun quiz page. When I checked my account at boredquiz, I was amazed by the result of one of my quiz. It’s on the top lists. I am very pleased and of course proud that among the thousand quizzes posted at bored quiz, I managed to be included in the top ten and the amazing part is that it was taken by more than 40,000 and still counting.

What’s the title of the quiz?

What female Naruto Character Are You?

This quiz is conceptualized by my eldest daughter, Jessica since she is an Avid fan of Naruto. She has vast collection of Naruto pictures and many more. I scolded her for that habit since she was in her grade school and now that she’s in Junior high, her fondness for Naruto never ceased. She’s still at school and I know she will be glad to know that the quiz that we created is in the top list.

If you’re a Naruto fan and you want to try the quiz, just click here. The results will be nice looking female Naruto character pix which you can imbed in your blog, website, facebook or myspace page.

The quizzes I created are all original and passed copyscape. If you can create original quizzes like these and you want to earn an extra money out from creating quizzes, please contact me by leaving a message here or email me: redwarriorheart@yahoo.com

PayPal Verification Process: Philippines

How to become a verified PayPal Member

You must have a credit/debit card with Visa or MasterCard logo. If you don’t have a credit card, I recommend that you apply for a CyberEon card. The last time I checked, it only costs 350.00Php (Annual Fee). You can apply online or visit Union Bank branch near you. Bring 2 valid IDs and picture and also photocopy of your 2 valid IDs. It will take more or less 2 weeks before you receive the Eon card. Deposit an amount equivalent to $1.95 or maybe at least 200Php to your Eon Card. This will be used for PayPal verification but will be returned to you after you are verified.Your card will be activated within 24 hours. You can also enroll it in Union Bank online banking. After activation, you can link your Eon card to your Paypal account. The CCV code is the last three numbers at the back of your Eon card.

Paypal will charge $1.95 to your card but don’t worry it will be returned to you. Check your card to see if you are already deducted with the said amount. It may take 2-4 business days for the code to appear on your online account statement. If you are enrolled in online banking, you can log to see your credit card statement and get your code. If you can’t access your credit card statement online, you can call and ask a Customer Service for your Expanded Use Number (or in short, your Paypal code – EXPUSE)

Once you retrieved your PayPal code, log-in to your PayPal account and click “confirm my debit or credit card” link on the Account Overview page to enter your code.

After Verification Process, you can now add another bank account and withdraw from any Philippine Bank Account.

How to add another Bank Account

Log into your PayPal account,

Click the ‘Profile’ tab and then click ‘Add or Edit Bank Account’

Add your bank details

Note:

Your First name and Family Name on your PayPal account must match the name on your bank account, if it doesn’t match, your withdrawal request may be rejected by your bank.

Review your bank account information

Add your Bank Code. Bank codes can be found in my previous post.

Click ‘Add Bank Account‘ to confirm

Click the ‘My Account‘ tab and then click the ‘Withdraw‘ sub tab

Select the ‘Withdraw funds to your bank account’ option

Note:

Withdrawals equal or more than PHP 7,000 are free.

For withdrawal amounts of less than PHP 7,000, there will be a fee of PHP 50

Select the bank account and amount to withdraw

Confirm the transfer

It typically takes 5-7 business days. However, depending on your bank’s policies, it may take longer

Bank Codes of Philippine Banks

Some of my friends who are applying for PayPal verification are calling me and asking for Philippine Bank codes so I decided to post it here. I hope this will help you too.

I know some of you fellow freelance Pinoys and Pinays who are working online are still in the process of creating PayPal Account and experiencing some problems on verification process. I know it because when I was processing mine, I visit so many forums and discussion groups just to get the proper procedure and now that I am blogging, I will post the entire procedure here in my next post.

CAMP AQUINO LEARNING CENTER ID PROJECT

Camp Aquino Learning Center (CALC) is a pre-school located inside Camp Servillano Aquino, San Miguel, Tarlac City, Philippines. CALC is managed by Northern Luzon Command (NOLCOM) Management. To date, it has 50 students and still counting, divided into 3 sections, Nursery, Kindergarten & Preparatory. CALC is closer to my heart as this is where my kids had their preparatory education. The place is cool and safe as it is situated inside a military camp. It has beautiful field and & playground surrounded by trees.

Below are some pictures I’ve taken to show the place, the camp & the school.

Camp Aquino Learning Center

If you are interested to see the beautiful spots of Camp Aquino,

please click here for a CAMP TOUR

This is my sample design of their ID. It’s not final yet and still under negotiation. NOLCOM Management has to approve the design.

This my design of CALC Logo

MONTESSORI DE XEVERA PROJECT

We bagged the contract for Biometric System in Montessori de Xevera, Bacolor, Pampanga. The project includes Identification Cards (ID) for pre-school students and faculty. Montessori de Xevera is one of the most advanced pre school in Pampanga equipped with the latest interactive instruction materials, computers, advance modules and professional faculty. Montessori de Xevera is one of Mr. Delfin Lee’s prides.

Mr. Delfin Lee is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Globe Asiatique, builder of the sales record-breaking Xevera community in Bacolor, Pampanga. Mr. Delfin Lee is the same guy you see so many times on television giving out condo and residential units to winners in “Pinoy Big Brother”, “Pinoy Dream Academy”, and “Wowowee”. Globe Asiatique is the same group behind GA Twin Towers, Edsa Mandaluyong; Chateau Valenzuela, a 5-star condo complex in Valenzuela City; Sta. Barbara Villas, a modern community overlooking mountainside of San Mateo, Rizal; and St. Monique Valais – a 200-hectare classy residential area in Binangonan, Rizal.

This is my design of Montessori de Xevera Student and Faculty ID

Busy day!! Enrollment @ Montessori de Xevera School. Taking Pictures for ID and fingerprint for Biometric System. With me is Sir Bong Gallo, my Project Associate.

Theme Park of Xevera Subdivision, Bacolor, Pampanga, PhilippinesRobin infront of Montessori de Xevera (Temporary) Faculty Office

Sir Bong with Montessori de Xevera Faculty

With me is Liza & Robin, My Project Associates. This picture was taken infront of Xevera Elementary School.

Liza, Bong and yours truly. Entrance of Xevera Theme Park
After a days work…. Relaxing @ sunset